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Barcelona a wonderful city for your vacation

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia in Spain located in the East cost. Close to the french frontier, the city is not only next by the mediterranean sea but it is also surrounded by mountains.

The city welcomed the olympic games in 1992 and during the year, a lot of exhibitions are celebrated at the plaza España. The city is composed of 10 neighborhoods - Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Sants, Les Corts, Sarrià, Gràcia, Horta, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Sant Marti. Each district has its own characteristic.

One of the most important things in this city is its buildings.

Indeed if a lot of cities are formed from regular constructions, Barcelona is quite different. Every buidling is different and sometimes, you can see an old architecture mixed with a new design for the same building. All those irregular constructions create a particular charm for this city.

To move in the city, you can use your feets of course but you can also take a taxi. For this last one, you just have to wait and when you see a taxi with a green light just raise your hand. If you don't want to walk or take a taxi, you can still use the public transports (metro, tramway and/or bus - for more information, you can check the TMB website) or you can rent a bicycle if you want to make sport during your holidays.

Depending if you are alone or if you are with friends, sometimes it will be better to take a taxi than to take the metro because travelling with the taxi it will cost you between 5€ and 10€ crossing neighborhood from neighborhood (no matter if you are alone or if you are 4). So following where you want to go, one will save you more money than the other.

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What to visit ?

Well you can go to La Rambla street, very famous for its particular statue being. By going down this street, you can make a stop to La Boqueria market where you can buy food or eat to one of the bar restaurants. At the end of the street, you will find the Christophe Colomb statue showing with its finger the direction to go to USA - BE AWARE, La Rambla is full of THIEVES who will not hesitate to rob your purse !!!

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The Barri Gotic is the older neighborhood and it is full of small streets to discover. You can lost very easily but you can find something that no one knows and/or particular shops. In this district, you can visit the Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia cathedral built from 13th century until 15th century.

Eixample which is composed of the right (Eixample Derecha) and left (Eixample Izquierd) side where you can visit the famous work of Antoni Gaudi called "La Sagrada Familia". We know when this impressive temple started to be built in 1882 but we don't know when it will finish. Indeed it is still in construction and the ending should be in 2026 normally !!! Since november, 7 2010, with the benediction of the Pope Benedict XVI during his visit, he declared officially that Sagrada Familia is a basilica.

Paseig de Gracia, the street of many shops where you can find famous expensive brand like Channel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton but also famous cheaper brand like Zara, Mango, Morgan...

On this street, you can visit 2 famous buildings from Antoni Gaudi - Casa Batllo and Casa Milà (also known like La Pedrera). And there are many other places where it is worth to visit like Parc Güell, Montjuïc, Arco de Triunfo, Picaso Museum, Tibidabo...

What to eat or to dinner ?

Well of course, the most famous plate is the paella. You can order it at almost every place but be careful between a real one (cook by the chief) and the false one (cook by the microwave). Normally, the chief will never cook for one person and it takes approximately 30 minutes minimum so if you go to a restaurant and you see in the menu that they offer the paella from 1 person, it means that it is a frozen paella and it just needs to be heat in the microwave.

To be served with your paella, you can order the sangria. The sangria is an alcoholic drink where the main component is the red wine (red sangria) or the champagne/cava (yellow sangria).

Also you have to try their typical bread with tomatos (pan con tomate in spanish) and the tapas. Tapas are kind of snack, normally you have to order it before the main meal but at Barcelona (in all Spain too), you can find specialized tapa restaurants. Inside those restaurants, you will find a great varieties of tapas (only that) and some are the specialties of the chief.

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Traditionally, the tapa is served when you order a drink and it will cost you anything, you just pay the drink. This tradition is still maintained in some autonomous regions like Sevilla, Granada in Andalusia country, San Sebastian, Valladolid in Basque country... Unfortunately, this tradition has been lost at Barcelona.

And of course there are many other spanish foods you can eat like patatas bravas, spanish octopus... or international foods like pizza, hamburger...

Where to go out ?

During night time, depending what you want to do, you can go to Gracia. This neighborhood is a very popular place where you can find many restaurants and local bars to dinner or to have a drink. In the same atmosphere, you have the Born district with many more clubs where majority of the entrances are free. Both are very crowded in particular from friday night to sunday night.

Go up to Tibidado street where you can take a romantic drink with your partner. From here, you can have an overview to the city and along this same street, you can find a lot of clubs.

Barcelona is also famous to be a gay/lesbian city so if you look for another kind of mood, you can go to the Eixample Derecha (in particular the Muntaner street).

And of course, there are many other places to have a wonderful night like Plaza Catalunya, Poblenou, Raval, Barrio Gótico, Maremágnum... just wandering around my blog to find more information about Barcelona. If you want to see panoramic/scenic pictures, you can still visit my other website Concept RT.